Google Earth's new feature shows lost civilisations from space

Ever thought about a great lost civilisation — the Maya of Central America, say, or the Indus of South-East Asia — and thought: what does that ancient site look like now?

Google's got you covered.

A new feature from the tech giant, called Lost Civilisations, lets you explore, using Google Earth technology, those parts of the world in the present day.

Some, like the Nabaya Playa — home to a small community 10,000 years ago in what is now the Egyptian Sahara — are little more than empty expanses of desert.

Other places are still occupied. Collinsville, in suburban Illinois, was a thriving Indigenous community known as Cahokia between 600 and 1400AD. Google's tool lets you explore what remains (spoiler: not much).

Here are a few of the other lost civilisations, and how those locations look today.